In response to the increasing rates of childhood obesity, the United States and countries across Latin America have invested in research that tests innovative strategies and interventions. Despite this, progress has been slow, uneven, and sporadic, calling for increased knowledge exchange and research collaboration that accelerate the adaptation and implementation of promising childhood obesity interventions. To share research results, challenges, and proven intervention strategies among Latin American and US researchers, particularly those working with Latino and Latin American populations, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened researchers from the United States and Latin America to highlight synergies between research conducted in Latin America and among Latino populations in the United States with the goal of catalyzing new relationships and identifying common research questions and strategies. This article highlights the NIH's research and priorities in childhood obesity prevention as well as areas for future direction, including overarching NIH plans and NIH institutes, centers, and offices investments in specific areas related to childhood obesity prevention in Latin America and/or among Latino populations in the United States.A novel charge-reversible surfactant, (CH3 )2 N-(CH2 )10 COONa, was designed and synthesized, which together with silica nanoparticles can stabilize a smart n-octane-in-water emulsion responsive to pH. At high pH (9.3) the surfactant is anionic carboxylate, which together with the negatively charged silica nanoparticles co-stabilize flowable oil-in-dispersion emulsions, whereas at low pH (4.1) it is turned to cationic form by forming amine salt which can hydrophobize in situ the negatively charged silica nanoparticles to stabilize viscous oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsions. At neutral pH (7.5), however, this surfactant is converted to zwitterionic form, which only weakly hydrophobises the silica particles to stabilize O/W Pickering emulsions of large droplet size. Moreover, demulsification can be achieved rapidly triggered by pH. With this strategy particles can be controlled either dispersed in water or adsorbed at the oil-water interface endowing emulsions with the capacity for intelligent and precise control of stability as well as viscosity and droplet size.Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is becoming a new robust metabolic chassis for biotechnological applications, due to its metabolic versatility, low nutritional requirements and biosafety status. We have previously engineered P. putida KT2440 to be an efficient propionate producer from L-threonine, although the internal enzymes converting propionyl-CoA to propionate are not clear. In this study, we thoroughly investigated 13 genes annotated as potential thioesterases in the KT2440 mutant. One thioesterase encoded by locus tag PP_4975 was verified to be the major contributor to propionate production in vivo. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/hg-9-91-01.html Deletion of PP_4975 significantly decreased propionate production, whereas the performance was fully restored by gene complement. Compared with thioesterase HiYciA from Haemophilus influenza, thioesterase PP_4975 showed a faster substrate conversion rate in vitro. Thus, this study expands our knowledge on acyl-CoA thioesterases in P. putida KT2440 and may also reveal a new target for further engineering the strain to improve propionate production performance.A simple, scalable, surfactant-in-polymer templating approach is demonstrated to create controlled long-range secondary substructures in a primary structure. A metal bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (MAOT) as the surfactant is shown to be capable of serving as a sacrificial template and metal precursor in carbon nanofibers. The low interfacial tension and controllable dimensions of the MAOT are maintained in the solid-phase polymer, even during electrospinning and heat-treatment processes, allowing for the long-range uniform formation of substructures in the nanofibers. The MAOT content is found to be a critical parameter for tailoring the diameter of the nanofibers and their textural properties, such as size and volume of interior pores. The metal counterion species in the MAOT determine the introduction of metallic phases in the nanofiber interior. The incorporation of MAOT with Na as the counterion into the polymer phase leads to the formation of a built-in pore structure in the nanofibers. In contrast, MAOT with Fe as a counterion generates unique iron-in-pore substructures in the nanofibers (FeCNFs). The FeCNFs exhibit outstanding charge storage and water splitting performances. As a result, the MAOT-in-polymer templating approach can be extended to combinations of various metal precursors and thus create desirable functionalities for different target applications.A preparatory study was performed to develop a sediment quality and risk assessment strategy for Switzerland, addressing the following questions the sediment fraction to be analyzed chemically ( less then ?63??m, or alternatively less then ?2?mm); the suitability of using perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as an indicator of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in sediments; the availability of data for the derivation of sediment quality guidelines; and the suitability of normalization to total organic carbon (TOC). The results confirmed PFOS as a suitable indicator of PFAS contamination in sediments from small streams, being the most detected and on average with the highest concentrations among the analyzed PFAS. The fine fraction ( less then ?63??m) was more appropriate to screening for possible sources and studying the compound profiles at the study sites, but the analysis of the less then ?2?mm fraction and the normalization to a sample consisting of 100% of the less then ?63?μm frfrom validation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17716-725. © 2021 SETAC.Risk assessment for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is complicated by the fact that PFAS include several thousand compounds. Although new analytical methods have increased the number that can be identified in environmental samples, a significant fraction of them remain uncharacterized. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is the PFAS compound of primary interest when evaluating risks to humans and wildlife owing to the consumption of aquatic organisms. The exposure assessment for PFOS is complicated by the presence of PFOS precursors and their transformation, which can occur both in the environment and within organisms. Thus, the PFOS to which wildlife or people are exposed may consist of PFOS that was discharged directly into the environment and/or other PFOS precursors that were transformed into PFOS. This means that exposure assessment and the development of remedial strategies may depend on the relative concentrations and properties not only of PFOS but also of other PFAS that are transformed into PFOS.